Fashionable activism?

Fashionable activism?

Sometimes it feels like whenever something kicks off people have the urgency to go all out and share whatever they can find on the Internet without verifying if its true or not.
Some would even argue this is causing harm (Haretz recently stated that Palestinians are spreading propaganda) and not doing anyone much favors. Personally, I feel that awareness among people, who have a sense of empathy and decency, know what is going on and lets be frank here if all of this was successful we would have seen change long time ago in regards to Palestine, Syria, Myanmar, Central African Republic etc. Another sad reality that this form of activism causes is that people from other affected places will start getting upset knowing that their cause or suffering isn’t ‘worthy’ enough which then makes people compare calamities across the globe and distances the gap between people.

We can’t change the world via sharing posts regarding an area every minute or protesting once or twice a year and doing nothing for the rest of the year. If we look at Palestine, for example, we usually hear and see people’s outcry during Israeli advances into Gaza which have recently occurred in 2009, 2012 and now in 2014. What about Syria? We usually see people’s outrage when the regime decides to employ chemical weapons against civilians. How many of you knew that more than 1000 people were killed during June alone? What about the ongoing crises in Burma or must we wait until the BBC decides to showcase a 1 minute segment?

I admire the people who dedicate their lives to causes that are benefitting to humanity as they try and ensure that we don’t forget about these sufferings in our life of luxury and safety but what annoys me is when people do these acts just to jump on a bandwagon and make themselves feel at ease. I understand this helps people overcome the feeling of helplessness but there is so much more we can do. We need to establish ourselves so we can lobby this government as the Zionists have done for years because years of protests have had very little impact.

(I am not directing this to anyone in particular as I myself have been guilty of this, just something to reflect on)